Nathan Evans, Jessica Knott, Patricia Stewart
In an effort to help our faculty convert their courses from the old LMS to Desire2Learn Learning Environment, we created training sessions that integrated both the "need-to-know" basics with relevant instructional design practice. This presentation highlights the design, development and early outcomes from the "D2L Conversion Lab" workshops.
Topic:D2L Conversion LabsPresenter: Patricia Stewart, Instructional Designer Organization: Michigan State University Format: Seminar Audience: Trainers, Faculty and Administrators Presentation Stream: Support & Training Description: In an effort to help our faculty convert their courses from the old LMS to Desire2Learn Learning Environment, we created training sessions that integrated both the "need-to-know" basics with relevant instructional design practice. This presentation highlights the design, development and early outcomes from the "D2L Conversion Lab" workshops.
JESSwhat are the conversion labs (Jess)? Need to know basics and sandboxingWhat do you want to focus on here? I can change the slide points – just let me know what you want them to be below (if any):Stats:176 active classes (incl development courses), SPRING 20132 year migration strategy (ANGEL will remain online “through spring 2015”)ANGEL to D2L Conversion Tool
NATE CON’TPros & Cons – Though you have already used the conversion tool, we’ll talk about the benefits and limitations of if as you consider whether to convert your other courses. In some cases I think you’ll find it’s easier to create a development course in D2L and start from scratch, or bring some course materials over piecemeal. We’ll also talk about what course materials covert well, and which ones you will want to devote extra time and attention to.Helpful Resources– We have a number of great resources available on using D2L no matter where you are at in the process, so I want to point out a few of the most useful resources we have available so you know where to find help when you need it.Tools and Pedagogy – Next we’ll jump into the D2L interface. There are new tools within D2L that build-on, and enhance the functionality you are used to in Angel, and there are others that are brand new… still others have been taken out, so we’ll talk about those. So I’ll give you a overview of the navigation, structure, and tools and give you some strategies on how to use them within your D2L course. Practice - We’ll take a short break, then the remainder of the session is intended to be less philosophical, and more practical. So we’ll start the session by gathering your specific questions, and take some time to address them. At the end of the day we want you to leave more comfortable using D2L than you came in, so if you have questions, or want to see how something works… talk to us. That’s why we are here.
Let’s take a look at the pros first.How many of you found this true?Coming into this seminar, we had you take the extra steps of creating a development course in Angel, then copying your course into it, which we will talk more about later, but with basically 2 clicks, you do the conversion and make your course available in D2L. Mike Zakham and his team have been working very hard to keep it very automated and very easy to do.
Take a minute to look at slide here and make mental note of what similarities/differences you notice.Let’s start with the lessons tab in ANGEL since that is most likely where your course materials will be stored.Lesson folders have moved over. Introduction, week 1, week 2, etc.NOTICE what has happened with my folder subtitles.ALSO NOTICE what has happened with my “Using Google Apps” link. In ANGEL it is a hyperlink, but when it comes over to D2L you’ll notice that the link has been replaced by a folder. What has actually happened Note the name of where your content is stored. In ANGEL it is called Lessons, while in D2L it is called “content.”Note the Navigation changes. In ANGEL you click the Lessons tab to get to lessons. But in D2L it is different. In fact, it’s significantly different, because like I mentioned earlier, you have the ability to choose how and where students will find their course content. In this case, the content is displayed in the content browser under the course homepage. Not under a tab in the navigation. However, as you will see, you can choose to place it under the navigation if you would like.
Let’s jump into one of the Folders under lessons. So I am in the week 1 folder. What do you see?Icon changesPreview text has disappearedThis causes the layout to seem more condensed in D2LNaming has changed again from Folders to Modules
Here’s a simpler one. The only things I will point out are the naming (links/quicklinks), and that due to the conversion, the link on the left was placed into a folder. (jump back to first slide)So how would you approach this if it was your course? You know that it will create a new folder and place the quicklink into it. Would you leave it as is or do something different?
Again 2 clicks – just out of curiosity how would you rate the effort level for the conversion process? Just a show of hands for “easy”…
so let’s look at the CONS of using the D2L conversion tool, because it may not be the best solution for every course.Quizzes are a great example of this.If you use standard t/f or multiple choice this may not be the case. But if you are using fill in the blank or essay, these are types of questions that may need significant reconfiguring in D2L.
And the “pro” you’ve probably been most interested in is this one: Will all of my course materials convert into D2L?And in most cases, I would say, “yes” they will convert well. So, let’s take a look at the items that you can expect to convert well. Do you remember that kids magazine called “highlights?” They always had this activity where you had to find the differences between two pictures that looked identical. So I thought we would have a similar activity here to make this sort of fun.What you are about to see are screen shots that have been placed side-by-side so you can see the similarities between these two systems. On the left you will see my sample course in ANGEL, and on the right you will see how it converted into D2L.
Presenter or SWF files: At first glance, these files will look good. But I want to point this out: We’ve had anissues with SWF animations and presenter files where the first file will come in fine, but all of the SWF and presenter files in the following modules will be overwritten by the first. (show illustration)
Presenter issue: slide1
Presenter issue: slide 2--I wanted to point this out because it tricky; and it illustrates that even with this fancy conversion tool, you will need to be diligent about checking every link in your course.it looks good at a glance, but when you get into the files in week 2,3,4,etc…. They will not appear correctly. In fact, they will all be identical copies of the first presenter file. We can talk about this in more detail in the second hour if there is interest…Presenter note: 2 workflow options…If it is a breeze link: Copy the links of each presenter file, create a new module in each week of your d2l course, then add an item, then paste the link.If it is a adbe presenter package: export the package from Angel (this creates a .zip), unpack the zip, upload the folder to the content area where you would like it located.
Presenter files are a great example of this. Show slide of the presenter issue.
